Safety device for gas-supply connections.



Patented Sept. 20, 1910.

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AVAILABLE COPY W. GETLEY. SAFETY DEVICE FOR GAS SUPPLY OONNEGTIONS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 3, 1910.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM GETLEY, OF SOUTH LORAIN, OHIO, ASSIGNOR OF TWO-FIFTHS TO CLAYTON A. SMITH, OF LORAIN, OHIO.

SAFETY DEVICE FOR GAS-SUPPLY- CONNECTIONS.

"To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, WVILLIAM Gurney, citizen of the United States, residing at South Lorain, in the county of Lorain and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety Devices for Gas-Supply Connections, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a safety device for gas supply connections, all substantially as shown and described and particularly pointed out in the claim.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional view of a gas supply pipe and a valve and my improved safety device, all coupled together. Fig. 2 is a sectional View of the coupling member, and Figs. 3, 4L and 5, detail views of the movable parts which'are mounted within said coupling member to complete my safety device.

The object of the invention is for the most part apparent from the foregoing views. Thus, the invention is especially designed to be used in natural gas connections in which the pressure often falls so low under certain conditions that a flame will go out, and

then when the conditions change the gas will resume flowing under the returning pressure and of course waste into the room. Such experiences are of every day occurrences in homes where there are individual gas wells on the place which at the best do not afford more than a few pounds pressure, say five or lower, and which have to be handled with great economy to obtain any sustained pressure at all for a protracted use. Then if a range in the kitchen be using the gas and a burner in the laundry be started it may not be long before the weakest burner will begin to die down and possibly go entirely out without being observed while the others burn low. If this failure be in the laundry it may run on for an indefinite period without being observed, say all night or day and night with the supposition in the house that it is going all right when in fact it went out the first hour it was open. Many persons have hot water boilers in their laundries under which they seek to maintain heat day and night, particularly in winter. It is both dangerous and wasteful to have such conditions to prevail without remedy, and what is true as to a laundry burner is equally true of range, sitting room, bedroom and other burners, and the one offering the Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 3, 1910.

Patented Sept. 20, 1910.

Serial No. 547,082.

greatest resistance at the time will be first to die out while the others may burn on. This experience is also frequent in lamps or lights that are turned on, and possibly low for the night, when a little extra free flow for a time in a kitchen burner will extinguish the bedroom light without its being noticed all the night long and with a leaking light flooding the room with gas. Now, I have sought to avoid or prevent the possi bility of such dangerous and wasteful experiences whether it be with gas on the farm or in the town or city, where there is liable to be much fluctuation in natural gas pressure.

The present invention therefore consists of means which will automatically close the gas passage when the pressure falls to the minimum, or where it will not sustain the flame. The organization to do this must necessarily be exceedingly sensitive and responsive and the devices shown herein have this characteristic and do the work effectually when properly constructed and located. To these ends the said mechanism, which is referred to herein as safety mechanism is located in the feed or supply pipe P of the gas and behind a valve or valves V in said pipe, or which tap the same at any point more or less removed from said safety device as to distance. However, for convenience of operation, the valve and the device are best near each other, and in a range or kitchen stove may have the relationship seen in Fig. 1.

In construction said device is seen clearly in section, Fig. 1, and in this instance is located in a coupling member or fitting B in the pipe line P and consists essentially of a cup C located in a chamber in said coupling, and adapted, in a sense, to operate as an automatic valve to close the gas passage through said coupling when the gas pressure drops to minimum as above described and which means that the pressure has fallen too low to hold the valve up in open position. The said chamber for cup C therefore is formed across the gas passage 2 in the coupling, which has a differential opening 3 formed transversely thereof at its middle and with the larger diameter above passage 2 and the smaller diameter traversed by said passage and dropped below the same far enough to permit cup C to drop down therein athwart said passage 2 and seat it particularly on the outer or valve side. The said larger diameter is occupieol by a cap shaped nut N which is hollow to about the full depth of cup G and so that said cup can occupy the hollow or cavity therein when raised or open and which carries it bodily above gas passage 2. This hollow portion or interior of cap or nut N corresponds in cross section to the smaller diameter of said opening in coupling B and the two combined spaces constitute the chamber above referred to for said cup and in which it has play or movement from open to closed position with fairly close fitting walls of the same cross section inboth positions. The said cap shaped nut N has a sharp edge 4 about its bottom adapted to bite into the annular shoulder 5 beneath and seal the nut, and said cup is provided with a slight stem 6 with a tapered head 7 adapted to a correspondingly tapered seat and serving to raise the said cup or valve G when opening of the gas passage 2 is desired for use of the gas. The cup C is designed to be a mere shell of say aluminum perfectly formed and turned true and smooth about its side when it seats across passage 2 and seals it both by reason of its close fit and the pressure of the gas on the gas side.' The cup C also is designed to be very light so that gas at any safe using pressure, though very low, will hold the valve up after it has 7. been raised by hand, particularly when the valve V has been opened. In practice this valve should be opened first and then being ready with a match to light the burner raise valve cup G into the nut N. Said cup will then stay open as long as valve V is open and the pressure holds up, but itwill drop of its own gravity when the gas pressure falls dangerously low. Valve stem 6 is returned by gravity to seal the opening at the bottom of the chamber.

Obviously this device is adapted to be generally installed wherever automatic safety appliances as against low gas pressure are desirable and particularly as they may be related to valves for tapping the flow and Which they are adapted to close regardless of said valve.

A pipe or other part may be provided with a chamber for valve C and a cap corresponding to the one shown herein.

Referring to Fig. 1, fitting B is seen to have an enlarged end 8 interiorly threaded and a reduced end 9 exteriorly threaded, the latter being adapted to screw into valve body V to bring valve V and fitting B into the nearest possible relationship. This is of distinct advantage as both the lift stem 6 for automatic valve C and the valve handle V of valve V may be manipulated by the fingers of one hand, and to further this end,

handle V is on the same side of pipe P as stem 6. Thus when for any reason valves V and C are closed, both may be easily and conveniently opened by one hand of the operator while his other hand is applying the match to the burner.

What I claim is:

A safety device for gas connections comprising a coupling having an interiorly threaded end and an exteriorly threaded end and a central gas passage with a chamber across the same, said chamber being of greater diameter in its outer than in its inner portion and said outer portion interiorly threaded and said inner portion plain, and said coupling having a tapered opening through the wall thereof into said chamber, in combination with a cup valve of relatively light material in the smaller portion of said chamber and adapted to be raised, a hollow nut removably screwed within the larger portion of said chamber over said valve and having a sharp bottom seating edge, and a lift stem for said valve having a tapered head adapted to said tapered opening.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM GETLEY.

Witnesses I F. C. MussuN, R. B. MOSER. 

